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Some of the finer details have gone fuzzy in the memory of Martin Strange, but even a decade on he can still plot the course of a 2012 friendly and why it mattered to Norwegian side Mjondalen.
‘We beat Stromsgodset 5-2, which at the time was a big deal for us,’ Strange recalls. ‘We were in the second tier and they were local opposition.’
Arch-rivals, in fact. And though some regulars were missing from each side, Stromsgodset were still a top-flight scalp.
‘But of course the headline wasn’t that,’ Strange explains. ‘Most of the attention was regarding a 13-year-old playing for Stroms-godset. Which is understandable.’
Martin Odegaard was a teenage sensation in Norway and made his Stromsgodset at just 13
A decade on the Norwegian will return to Norway for Arsenal’s Europa League tie on Thursday
These days, Strange rents out heavy machinery to entrepreneurs. That June afternoon near Drammen, he was dealing with something rather smaller. But still worth a few bob. ‘We were leading 4-0 at half-time,’ Strange recalls. He was playing left back, and after the break Stromsgodset sent on a new right winger — Martin Odegaard.
It was the 13-year-old’s senior debut, a club record. After just 25 minutes, however, he had created his first goal.
Within three years, Odegaard was en route to Real Madrid. Now, a decade on, the 23-year-old returns to Norway as captain of Arsenal, who face Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League.
‘I remember it well,’ he says of that debut. ‘I was a kid. I feel young today and it’s like 10 years ago now. I was a kid. It was a good time. I was playing football, having fun, I just enjoyed doing what I love.’
The 13-year-old took just 25 minutes of his debut to create his first goal for Stromsgodset
A move to Real Madrid followed for Odegaard after his impressive start in Norway as a teen
The midfield playmaker would later move to Real Sociedad on loan from Madrid in La Liga
‘I didn’t think about it at the time — that…
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Source : dailymail
